The Great Synagogue of Vilna, built in the 1630s on the site of an earlier synagogue, was destroyed by the Soviets in the 1950s, after the Nazis had a go in WWII. Today there's a map of the Vilnius ghetto on the site.
Site of Great Synagogue
Vilnius
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
0.41 MILES
Stately Vilnius Cathedral, divorced from its freestanding belfry, is a national symbol and the city's most instantly recognisable building. Known in full…
Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania
0.44 MILES
If you only see one museum in Vilnius, make it this one. On a site that has been settled since the 4th century AD stands the latest in a procession of…
0.24 MILES
Founded in 1579 during the Catholic Counter Reformation, Vilnius University was run by Jesuits for two centuries. During the 19th century it became one of…
0.77 MILES
This former headquarters of the KGB (and before them the Gestapo, Polish occupiers and Tsarist judiciary) houses a museum dedicated to thousands of…
0.39 MILES
Climb the creaky stairs into the free-standing belfry of Vilnius Cathedral, once part of the city's 13th-century defences. Towering 57m high, it's one of…
0.53 MILES
This landmark statue depicts the early unifier of the Lithuanian tribes in the mid-13th century and the country's first king.
14.2 MILES
Stepping across the wooden walkway to Trakai's Gothic castle is like tripping into a fairy tale. The castle is estimated to date from around 1400, when…
10.67 MILES
Some 21km north of Vilnius, off the Utena road, is Europos Parkas. Leading contemporary sculptors, including Sol LeWitt and Dennis Oppenheim, show over…
Nearby Vilnius attractions
1. Site of the Strashun Library
0.01 MILES
Once one of the world's largest and most important collections of rabbinical and other Judaic writing, the Strashun was looted and destroyed by the Nazis.
2. House of Gaon Elijahu Ben Shlomo Zalman
0.03 MILES
A plaque marks the former house of the famous 18th-century Talmudic scholar and his bust stands nearby.
0.07 MILES
This was once the entrance to the main Jewish quarter, which lay in the streets west of Didžioji gatvė. Today only street names like Žydų (Jews) and Gaono…
4. Evangelical Lutheran Church
0.08 MILES
Hidden in a courtyard, this revamped church is home to Vilnius’ tiny Protestant community. The church dates from 1555 but displays a mixture of Gothic,…
0.08 MILES
This splendidly ornate late-Baroque church dates to the time of Grand Duke Vytautas, in the early 15th century. The fanciful interior, with its lavish…
0.1 MILES
Built in the Gothic style in the 15th century, then rebuilt after a fire in the 18th, this single-nave church contains an image of the vision in which…
7. Church of Our Lady of the Assumption
0.14 MILES
Dubbed ‘Sands Church’ after the quarter in which it stands, this 15th-century Franciscan church has a varied history – it was a hospital for the French…
8. Theatre, Music & Cinema Museum
0.14 MILES
Artefacts of Lithuanian song, stage and screen are the stars of this museum. Three centuries of notable instruments – including the pūslinė (a primitive…
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